The Malcolm Baldrige Award is the highest most recognized quality award in the United States of America. In 1987 the U.S. Congress established the Malcolm Baldrige award program to recognize U.S. organizations for their achievements in the quality and performance excellence as a competitive edge. Its recipients, that are well known, are held on a plateau over other companies competing for the same market share. Not only does it recognize excelled companies for their excellent commitments, it also is used as a selling point. This can be evident if you look at the recipient’s profits from one year to the next. Later on, you will see how Motorola, the very first recipient was changed by the awarding of the Baldrige to them and what the award did for the company.

The U.S. Congress saw a need for American companies to focus on quality and what is stood for. In the early and mid-1980’s, many industry and government leaders saw that a renewed emphasis on quality was no longer an option for American companies which were falling behind in the global economy. However, many American companies didn’t feel that quality was important or that it wouldn’t take them anywhere, well they were wrong. The Baldrige Award stood as a standard of excellence that would help U.S. organizations achieve world-class quality programs and products. Now in 1999, not only can U.S. companies partake in the Award process, so can education and health care providers as well.

The criteria for the Baldrige Award, which has changed over the years, has played a major role in achieving the goals established Congress. The standards set is recognized not only nation wide but universally as the standards for performance excellence. Two major criteria which the Malcolm Baldrige Award what’s companies to focus on are, delivering ever improving value to customers and improving overall performance in the organization.

Who are the companies who have won the Malcolm Baldrige Award? Well, in the past 12 years a total of 37 companies have won the award, and the list keeps growing. Ranging from Motorola Inc., to Boeing, from 3M Dental products, to Xerox Corp., from Cadillac Motor Car, to Ames Rubber Corp, and from Ritz-Carlton Hotel to AT&T. These are just some of the elite corporations in the United States, which have won this prestigious award. Who will be next now one knows, maybe the company you work for.

Born in 1922 in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm Baldrige was an American dreamer from the get go. Graduating from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree, in 1944, he headed down his path of life. Before moving into the working world, Baldrige served in the Pacific as a Captain during WWII. Beginning his career in 1947 as a foundry hand in an iron company, he rose to become the companies President in 1960. On December 11, 1980, President Ronald Reagan nominated Malcolm to be Secretary of Commerce. He was a leader among many businessmen and a friend to many of the world’s most powerful leaders. He opens the gates to the east and even into the Soviet Union. Not only was he a skillful man with oversea affairs, he also had the upper hand in the Commerce Department, buy reducing the budget by 30% and man power by 25%. “The economic liberty and strong competition that are indispensable to economic progress were principles that “Mac” Baldrige stressed….” President Ronald Reagan. In 1987 Baldrige died in a rodeo accident in the state of California.

The Malcolm Baldrige Award Foundation is a public and private partnership, which creates the backbone for the award itself. Signed into Law on August 20, 1987 by President Ronald Reagan, Public Law 100-107 states that it is in the countries best interest to produce quality products in order to compete in the global economy. Based off of seven basic categories, which are: Leadership, Strategic planning, Customer and market focus, Information and analysis, Human resource focus, Process management, and Business results, today’s corporation strive to be the best in there market and create a competitive edge above the rest. This joint public and private program generates approximately $100 million dollars privately and 4.9 million from the federal government.

Who will win the next Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Award, no one knows. But all across America companies will be striving to provide the best service to their customers, employees, and suppliers because they know in order to survive, “Quality must be job one.” So even though the process is difficult, companies of today and companies of tomorrow will strive to be the best at what they do no matter what the cost.

Year Award Recipient Sector
2010 MEDRAD, Warrendale, PA manufacturing
Nestlé Purina PetCare Co., St. Louis, MO manufacturing
Freese and Nichols Inc., Fort Worth, TX small business
K&N Management, Austin, TX small business
Studer Group, Gulf Breeze, FL small business
Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, Downers Grove, IL health care
Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD education
2009 Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, Kansas City, MO manufacturing
MidwayUSA, Columbia, MO small business
AtlantiCare, Egg Harbor Township, NJ health care
Heartland Health, St. Joseph, MO health care
VA Cooperative Studies Program Clinical Research Pharmacy Coordinating Center, Albuquerque, NM nonprofit
2008 Cargill Corn Milling North America, Wayzata, MN manufacturing
Poudre Valley Health System, Fort Collins, CO health care
Iredell-Statesville Schools, Statesville, NC education
2007 PRO-TEC Coating Co., Leipsic, OH small business
Mercy Health System, Janesville, WI health care
Sharp Healthcare, San Diego, CA health care
City of Coral Springs, Coral Springs, FL nonprofit
U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC), Picatinny Arsenal, NJ nonprofit
2006 MESA Products, Inc., Tulsa, OK small business
Premier Inc., San Diego, CA service
North Mississippi Medical Center, Tupelo, MS health care
2005 Sunny Fresh Foods, Inc., Monticello, MN manufacturing
DynMcDermott Petroleum Operations, New Orleans, LA service
Park Place Lexus, Plano, TX small business
Richland College, Dallas, TX education
Jenks Public Schools, Jenks, OK education
Bronson Methodist Hospital, Kalamazoo, MI health care
2004 The Bama Companies, Tulsa, OK manufacturing
Texas Nameplate Company, Inc., Dallas, TX small business
Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business, Greeley, CO education
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, Hamilton, NJ health care
2003 Medrad, Inc., Indianola, PA manufacturing
Boeing Aerospace Support, St. Louis, MO service
Caterpillar Financial Services Corp., Nashville, TN service
Stoner Inc., Quarryville, PA small business
Community Consolidated School District 15, Palatine, IL education
Baptist Hospital, Inc., Pensacola, FL health care
Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, Kansas City, MO health care
2002 Motorola Inc. Commercial, Government and Industrial Solutions Sector, Schaumburg, IL manufacturing
Branch-Smith Printing Division, Fort Worth, TX small business
SSM Health Care, St. Louis, MO health care
2001 Clarke American Checks, Incorporated, San Antonio, TX manufacturing
Pal’s Sudden Service, Kingsport, TN small business
Chugach School District, Anchorage, AK education
Pearl River School District, Pearl River, NY education
University of Wisconsin–Stout, Menomonie, WI education
2000 Dana Corp.-Spicer Driveshaft Division, Toledo, OH manufacturing
KARLEE Company, Inc., Garland, TX manufacturing
Operations Management International, Inc., Greenwood Village, CO service
Los Alamos National Bank, Los Alamos, NM small business
1999 STMicroelectronics, Inc.-Region Americas, Carrollton, TX manufacturing
BI Performance Services, Minneapolis, MN service
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., Atlanta, GA service
Sunny Fresh Foods, Monticello, MN small business
1998 Boeing Airlift and Tanker Programs, Long Beach, CA manufacturing
Solar Turbines Inc., San Diego, CA manufacturing
Texas Nameplate Company, Inc., Dallas, TX small business
1997 3M Dental Products Division, St. Paul, MN manufacturing
Solectron Corp., Milpitas, CA manufacturing
Merrill Lynch Credit Corp., Jacksonville, FL service
Xerox Business Services, Rochester, NY service
1996 ADAC Laboratories, Milpitas, CA manufacturing
Dana Commercial Credit Corp., Toledo, OH service
Custom Research Inc., Minneapolis, MN small business
Trident Precision Manufacturing Inc., Webster, NY small business
1995 Armstrong World Industries’ Building Products Operation, Lancaster, PA manufacturing
Corning Telecommunications Products Division, Corning, NY manufacturing
1994 AT&T Consumer Communications Services, Basking Ridge, NJ service
GTE Directories Corp., Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX service
Wainwright Industries Inc., St. Peters, MO small business
1993 Eastman Chemical Co., Kingsport, TN manufacturing
Ames Rubber Corp., Hamburg, NJ small business
1992 AT&T Network Systems Group/Transmission Systems Business Unit, Morristown, NJ manufacturing
Texas Instruments Inc. Defense Systems & Electronics Group, Dallas, TX manufacturing
AT&T Universal Card Services, Jacksonville, FL service
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., Atlanta, GA service
Granite Rock Co., Watsonville, CA small business
1991 Solectron Corp., Milpitas, CA manufacturing
Zytec Corp., Eden Prairie, MN manufacturing
Marlow Industries, Dallas, TX small business
1990 Cadillac Motor Car Division, Detroit, MI manufacturing
IBM Rochester, Rochester, MN manufacturing
Federal Express Corp., Memphis, TN service
Wallace Co. Inc., Houston, TX small business
1989 Milliken & Co., Spartanburg, SC manufacturing
Xerox Corp. Business Products and Systems, Rochester, NY manufacturing
1988 Motorola Inc., Schaumburg, IL manufacturing
Commercial Nuclear Fuel Division of Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA manufacturing
Globe Metallurgical Inc., Beverly, OH small business

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